Lions Park
Lions Park is a stadium located in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska, which is owned by the Lions, a local baseball team. It was constructed in 1916 and closed down 2006 when the Lions were to get a more modern park for their 90th anniversary. It later re-opened as a tourist attraction and concert venue. One thing that was significant about the old one was the amount of concerts it held - one before each game, mostly from a local band. However, one significant group played at the old stadium a number of times - the world-famous Glenn Miller Orchestra. All of this will be told in the history of the park. History The park was constructed in 1916 to make a permanent place for the Lions, a local baseball team formed in 1902, to play. They were one of the top teams of the area, which was just a small town. The thing that the park is most remembered for, however, is the introduction of concerts before games in the late 1960s. In 1965, the first ever stadium concert was held in Shea Stadium in New York City. It was a very successful event, bringing in a vary large crowd. Bands that performed there were the Beatles, Brenda Holloway and the King Curtis Band, Cannibal & The Headhunters, Sounds Incorporated, and the Young Rascals. This is what inspired Lions Park to start concerts, so in 1966 they constructed a stage and the first concert was held the same year. The first band to perform was Spy and the Heavies on September 28, 1966. Many other bands played all throughout the rest of the 1960s, but the most famous was when the Glenn Miller Orchestra played on Independence Day 1969, before a normally scheduled game. The crowd was more hyped about the upcoming game, so they cheered and chanted throughout the concert. This date started a tradition of the Glenn Miller Orchestra coming to the stadium once every few years to play a concert before a game, usually a local tournament game. The chronological order of their appearances is... # July 4, 1969 # June 31, 1975 # September 5, 1979 # May 20, 1981 # August 29, 1987 # July 17, 1992 # April 30, 1998 # June 28, 2000 # July 12, 2003 # September 27, 2006 The September 27, 2006 concert was on the final game held in Lions Park, and with the new park under construction nearby, demolition of the venue was to begin on September 28, 2006 finish by October 2006, but the stadium was just closed down and opened as a tourist attraction and concert venue as multiple petitions protesting the demolition surfaced. The new park was named "Dixon Power Field" due to using solar panels from the company Dixon Power. Later, in 2013, a large wind turbine was added to the field, similar to how Progressive Field did in 2012. Unlike that one, however, the one at Dixon Power Field is still in use today. Lions Park is completely intact as its structure is extremely strong, especially after being restored in 2000. The park is, as mentioned above, used for tourist purposes and concerts, and a museum was constructed within the hills nearby the park. Category:Locations